MAM
Sanjay Kaul steps down as Impact Communications CEO
NEW DELHI: Impact Communications founder & CEO Sanjay Kaul has stepped down from his current position. He is an industry veteran with more than three decades of experience in rural marketing and has been instrumental in building Impact as a rural marketing practice in India. He also serves as the chairman of National Advisory Board of Rural Marketing Association of India.
Kaul has handed over the mantle to the new leadership team. Nidhi Singh, who has been part of the founding team will be the new CEO, while director- strategy planning Kalpana Raina will take the role of chief operating officer. Both have been part of the core team from the organisation’s formative days.
“My journey of building Impact from scratch has been fulfilling, enriching and nothing less than a celebration,” said Kaul. “I have been fortunate to have a passionate and talented bunch of professionals in my team, who have both been part of my challenges and success, will always cherish those wonderful memories. I am leaving Impact at the helm of very creative, experienced and knowledgeable professionals and with a solid foundation. I am sure new leadership has both capacity and capability to take Impact to next level as rural is evolving and changing faster than ever before.”
Kaul is embarking on a new entrepreneurial journey, with plans to build a technology enabled rural market development, sales and distribution company.
“We have already plunged into this exciting new journey and will make formal announcements next month. Data driven approach and measured growth will be at the heart of the service offerings of the new venture,” he added.
Brands
Zscaler, Airtel launch India AI Cyber Research Centre
New hub to boost cyber resilience and trusted AI use
NEW DELHI: As India’s digital engine roars ahead, so do the risks riding shotgun. In response, Zscaler, Inc. and Bharti Airtel have joined hands to launch the AI and Cyber Threat Research Center – India, a national initiative aimed at strengthening the country’s cyber defences and accelerating responsible AI adoption.
The centre is designed as a multi stakeholder platform that brings together industry, government and academia. Its mission is clear: protect critical sectors such as telecom, banking and energy, shield everyday digital users, and future proof India’s fast expanding online ecosystem.
India has long been a major innovation hub for Zscaler, with a substantial portion of its cyber research talent based here. With this new centre, that footprint evolves into a national collaboration engine. The idea is simple but ambitious, build in India, for India, and help power the country’s journey towards a secure and digitally self reliant future.
The timing is telling. India is building digital systems at population scale, not just enterprise scale. That scale has widened the attack surface dramatically. At the same time, cyber criminals and nation state actors are deploying AI to scan, probe and exploit vulnerabilities in minutes.
Zscaler’s research arm, ThreatLabz India, reports millions of infiltration attempts every month. These include espionage campaigns linked to regional geopolitical tensions, 1.2 million intrusion attempts from 20,000 sources targeting 58 Indian digital entities, and a rise in zero day exploit attempts across multiple industries.
In such an environment, perimeter based security models are struggling to keep pace. The new centre aims to push a shift towards secure by design systems and Zero Trust architecture.
Its strategy rests on four pillars: protect through real time intelligence, remediate by working directly with government agencies, facilitate adoption of AI driven security and Zero Trust frameworks, and build a stronger cybersecurity talent pipeline through specialised certifications.
As founding members, Zscaler and Airtel will combine global threat intelligence with local network visibility. Zscaler will deploy a dedicated India focused research team and draw insights from its Zero Trust Exchange platform, which processes over 500 billion daily transactions worldwide. Airtel, meanwhile, will contribute deep visibility into IoT and mobile traffic, helping detect suspicious activity faster and coordinate response across the ecosystem.
Bharti Airtel executive vice chairman Gopal Vittal, said the partnership extends Airtel’s commitment to safeguarding customers and the nation’s digital fabric. He added that the collaboration would address challenges unique to the Indian market and encourage secure and confident digital engagement.
Zscaler chief executive, chairman and founder Jay Chaudhry, said India’s digital ambition cannot be secured with legacy firewalls and VPNs. He noted that a modern Zero Trust architecture is essential for a hyper connected world and that the new centre would harness the scale of Zscaler’s global security cloud while empowering a new generation of Indian cyber defenders.
Additional members from critical public and private sectors are expected to join the initiative in the coming months, expanding its scope and deepening collaboration.
In a world where threats travel at machine speed, India’s answer is to think faster, collaborate wider and build smarter.
